1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to clothes washers for automatically washing one or more clothing articles. More specifically, the invention relates to a clothes washer having a clothing trap to prevent an article of clothing from being expelled over the top of a wash basket during a spin operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Automatic clothes washers are widely known and commonly used to wash a load of clothes comprising one or more clothing articles in accordance with a programmed wash cycle. Clothes washers of this type typically comprise a perforated basket located within an imperforate tub, with the basket being rotatable relative to the tub. The clothing is placed in the basket where the wash liquid is free to flow between the basket and the tub through the perforations. With this configuration, wash liquid can be extracted from the clothes through centrifugal force by rotating the basket. The centrifugal extraction is generally referred to as a spin step or the spinning of the clothes.
In a vertical axis clothes washers, the basket and tub both have an open top defined by corresponding upper edges. A balancing ring is normally mounted to the upper edge of the basket and is designed to retard off-axis rotation caused by an unbalanced load. A decorative tub shroud for hiding the balancing ring from view and preventing the user from accidentally placing clothes in the tub during loading extends from the upper edge of the tub, over the balancing ring, and terminates in the interior of the basket at a position radially inwardly of the balancing ring.
The off-axis rotation causes the basket to move radially relative to the axis of rotation, which, if great enough, can cause the balancing ring or basket to contact the shroud or the tub. To prevent such contact the basket and tub are sized such that there is a gap between the balancing ring and tub and shroud, which provides the basket with a range of motion about which it can rotate off-axis without contacting either the tub or shroud.
While the gap is beneficial in preventing contact between the basket and the tub or shroud, it is disadvantageous in that it provides an opening though which the clothing can escape the basket. Depending on the size of the clothes load and the spin speed, the centrifugal force can push the clothing to the exterior of the basket. As the clothing piles up against the basket, it also pushes upwardly along the basket side wall. Under the right conditions, an article of clothing can be pushed over the top of the basket and out the gap where it can fall into the tub. Once in the tub, the article of clothing can be drawn into the pump inlet, which is normally fluidly connected to the tub, where it can clog and damage the pump.
It is desirable to have a clothes washer that can accommodate the off-axis rotation of the basket while preventing the escape of an article of clothing through the gap between balancing ring and the guard.